and the last election and over the last several elections there's a great concern. there's a number of bills that have been introduced. i'm a sponsor of one. a number of your cosponsor. senator gillibrand, senator boxer, a number of others. some seek as mine does to inspire a competition between states in partnership with the federal government to prove timeliness, access, accuracy. others mandate a federal standard i look forward to hearing from this range of witnesses today about the real impact on the ground. its impact on access to the ballot but its impact on outcomes, and the questions that are raises in my view about the voting rights act. we don't yet know the supreme court's path. but it think regardless of what happens in the upcoming supreme court case, this committee, this congress has a duty, in my view, to reauthorize the strengthen and extend the voting rights act in a way that takes into account the very real concerns about voting and accessing the right to vote in this country that this most recent election brought forth. thank you. >> we welcome ou